Democracy For Nepal

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sukhdev Shah And Anti-Madhesi Prejudice

Sukhdev Shah was way ahead of his time in terms of how far he went with his education. But his observation has been that his homevillage looks still the same after half a century.

He was vocal about democracy during the Panchayat era, and he has been vocal about Madhesi rights since democracy in 1990.

He gave so much to the Nepali Congress, but that party did not think him qualified to be the Nepali ambassador to the US back in 1991 or ever after. It took a MJF to make him the offer. He has been qualified this entire time.

I have utmost respect for Sukhdevji. And it is so very unfortunate that a government got toppled and the almost achieved dream of seeing a Madhesi as the Nepali ambassador to the US got dashed.

Image by paramendra via Flickr

Maybe this government will also get toppled in a few months, and an all party government will get formed, and the MJF will come back into power, and perhaps we will see the job done. But right now I am not counting on it.

What most gets me is the strong anti-Madhesi prejudice that the Nepali community in Washington DC expressed upon his nomination.

The prejudice is well and alive. No amount of education or global exposure seems to cure it. If anything, it seems to become stronger.

There is no escaping the struggle. If this generation will not do the work, the next generation will have to. Why pass it on to the next generation?

Image by paramendra via Flickr

For Sukhdev Shah at this stage in life to have to feel the hurt of the prejudice in a locale that has been his home for decades, it is like Ambedkar finally giving up on Hinduism to become a Buddhist. Maybe he should consider becoming an American citizen after all, after having resisted the idea for close to half a century.

The creation of a Madhes state in a federal Nepal is a must for Madhesi liberation.

Most diaspora Madhesis don't admit it, but Sukhdev Shah's experience is also their experience. A lot of them have mastered the art of getting along with Pahadis by either skipping the topic of Madhesi rights, or downright parroting the Pahadi talking points on Madhesi rights issues. I have a name for it. I call it the Mr 1% personality. It is the mindset of those who should be 40% of the room but are only 1% due to ethnic prejudice, and so they figure out a way to survive while being that 1%. That mental slavery exacts a heavy emotional price that many choose to pay. Salvation lies in those Madhesis reaching out to the Madhesi masses in Nepal, because they have the numbers to make a difference.

One word of criticism I would heap Shah's way is that it was Upendra Yadav and the MJF that nominated him, but he immediately started acting like it was the big wig Pahadis like Prachanda, Baburam, maybe even Girija who had authored the idea. We the downtrodden have a hard time accepting Madhesi leadership, and thus contribute to our continued downtrodden status.

Ethnic prejudice is an ideology that has to be defeated. The Madhesis of the world will have to get organized.

My quest for ambassadorship Republica Based on the news that filtered through the internet and newspapers, it appeared that the entire Nepali community in Washington was opposed to my nomination. Maybe the silent majority here was positive but none—except one person I can remember, Homraj Acharya, coordinator of Washington-Nepal Group—came out in my support. ....... my wife and I declined to attend the White House State Banquet given by President Reagan in honor of late King Birendra in December of 1982. Afterwards, Dr Bhekh B Thapa—then Ambassador to Washington—started treating me as if I had insulted his father and banned me from embassy functions. ....... the last Panchayat ambassador lobbied hard with the International Monetary Fund that I be fired from my job because of my “political activities”. ....... and have maintained personal contacts with all prominent politicians and leaders .......... I then find it amazing and puzzling why a person of my background would be opposed by this community where I spent most of my adult life and maintained good relations with everyone and all groups. No one had even hinted to me that I was not qualified for the job, that I have not served Nepal’s interests living outside the country and that I was unfit for the job for any specific reason. ....... From the beginning of my nomination, it looked as if the entire Nepali community here had become opposed to my nomination—tooth and nail—citing reasons that were made up, acrimonious and unverified. Otherwise, my nomination and appointment would have been a cause for celebration—that at least one of them had made it to the top and that it would open the way for many others residing outside the country. ....... just one: I am not one of them. ....... This kind of exclusionary politics in Nepal has lasted for many decades and over many generations but Madhesis are now determined to get their fair share of national recognition and claim equal opportunities as citizens.

Perspectives on Maoist debacle

Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Sukhdev Shah: Terai's Fate—Looking Within!
Telegraph Nepal : Nepal's US ambassador designate a US citizen ...
ANTA: Dr. Sukhdev Shah: Downsizing The Monarchy
Making Sense of Nepal's Transition to Republic - Dr. Sukhdev Shah ...

Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Kiran Sitoula Is A Short, Fat Idiot
ग्रीन कार्ड भनेको भिसा जस्तो हो

Sunday, September 06, 2009

A Reply To Surendra Devkota On Hindi

Hindi Is Central To The Madhesi Identity
An Afternoon With Prdip Giri

Nepali is the language of the 24% Khas population in Nepal. But when the various Janajati groups talk to each other, they do use the Nepali language. That is what makes Nep

Image by paramendra via Flickr

ali the link language in the hills. That is the reality.

Similarly Hindi exists as the link language between the various language groups in the Terai like the Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Tharu, Marwadi and Urdu speakers among many.

You could argue Nepali is an Indian language. More than 10 million Indians in India speak Nepali. Nepali has been duly recognized in India's constitution.

So the fact that Hindi is spoken in India and has been duly recognized in India's constitution can not be the reason to politically recognize Hindi in Nepal.

The Pahadis of Nepal should team up with the Madhesis of Nepal and with Indians and other South Asians to work to make Hindi the UN's sixth language. Hindi is key to the larger South Asian identity.

Someone like Surendra Devkota must know that when BP Koirala was Prime Minister, Hindi had equal status with Nepali inside Nepal. We have to reestablish that.

As for Vice President Jha, he is in limbo. He has been elected by the parliament to be Vice President. But according to the Supreme Court he has not taken oath yet. The Supreme Court was not bothered that Prachanda took oath wearing western clothes, as opposed to Daura Suruwal. But Jha's Hindi has been a problem.

Now it is for the parliament to amend the interim constitution so Jha can take his oath again, in Hindi. Until then Jha is Vice-President-elect.

To ask Jha to speak his mother tongue is to ask the SeTaMaGuRaLi to stop speaking Nepali and start speaking their mothertongues.

Jha has not forgotten Nepali. He is not claiming he has. But then he also speaks English. Should he so take his oath in English? It is not about knowledge about a language. It is about his right as a Madhesi to be able to take his oath in Hindi.

Jha has not dishonored rule of law. He does accept his new status as Vice-President-elect. He is not insisting he is still Vice President.

Awadh, Chitwan, Bhojpura, Mithila, Kochila = Madhesh

The politics of language Surendra Devkota NepalNews.com

A new kind of politics on language is evolving and VP’s denial to follow the Supreme Court’s decision may have a very bad socio-political implication.

By Surendra R Devkota

Vice president Paramananada Jha is acting as one of the most polarising political figures in contemporary politics. He has not only defied the Supreme Court’s July 24th decision regarding to retake his oath in Nepali language but has also ignored an appeal of both the president and the council of ministers. Why the VP is so adamant on challenging the rule of land? Commoners are just wondering why VP Jha loves Hindi more than his mother tongue? After more than two decades of service in
Image via Wikipedia
judiciary, how come he forgot all Nepali scripts? Why some leaders from Terai parties are politicising this issue and would like to keep VP as their ideal?
Had the VP taken oath in his mother tongue, people would have excused it. There won’t be any moral question about it. Then, it would have been the best if he had repeated his oath in Nepali – so far the only official language. Unfortunately, he tried to gain cheap popularity and become a messiah of Hindi language in Nepal
Image by paramendra via Flickr
as his party had instructed him earlier. So the question arises: is he a VP of his party or Nepal?

Hindi is a very resourceful language in India, but its introduction in Nepal can mainly be credited to Bollywood movies and music. Whether people in Nepal know Hindi in toto is doubtful. Nepalis are indeed fond of Hindi movies and listen to Hindi music, which is for pure entertainment. But, to say that all the people in Nepal understand Hindi is a illogical.

Further, based on Hindi movie watchers’ inspiration and aspirations, advocacy for Hindi to keep as the next official language could be morally wrong and unfaithful to the majority of Terai based people’s mother tongues. In Terai, as 2001 Census shows, 12.3 percent population speaks Maithili, as mother language, whereas Bhojpuri is spoken by 7.53%, Tharu by 5.86%, Awadhi by 2.47%, Urdu 0.77%, and Rajbanshi is the mother tongue of 0.57 %. Hindi as native language scores at the lowest -- 0.47%. Now, why is this big fuss about Hindi? Wouldn’t it be good idea to enhance one’s mother language?

Being honest to the past, language discrimination has been a fact in Nepal. For example, since the Panchayati days the then political as well as religious leaders had tried to uphold Sanskrit – the oldest language, but ended up narrowing it down to a tool of priesthood. They failed to integrate Sanskrit into the society. Consequently, some people initiated a campaign to hate it as dead language, in spite of Sanskrit being taught at top rated US and European universities. A politics of hate against Sanskrit was widespread among different ethnic communities as if it were the only factor to inhibit the prosperity of other languages. Like Nepali, Sanskrit is also the mother of Hindi, so how folks would digest Hindi and hate both Nepali and Sanskrit, if present rule of street is to be followed?
As of now a new kind of politics on language is evolving and VP’s denial to follow the Supreme Court’s decision may have a very bad socio-political implication. Politics on language and ethnicity may serve few people, but in the long run it will harm the society and the country. That has been proven in India, Russia, Africa and old Europe. By knowing all the failures, why politicians in Nepal are gearing up to a head to head collision in the name language and ethnicity? Do they want to become tribal leaders of their region(s) by weakening the central government?

It is very surprising to note that the leftist ideologues, self-declared social transforming agents in Nepal, seem pleased to play such a dirty politics on Nepal’s ethno-language diversity. For example, leftists in Nepal seem in favor of delineation of federal lines on ethno-lingual basis. But will it deliver social justice to majority of the population is doubtful because of Nepal’s multi-ethnical social structure and not a single ethno-lingual community has absolute majority in any local governmental jurisdiction. If one has to be fair to all languages, then country’s lingual federal lines could be more than 116 as outlined by Paul Lewis (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=NP). Will federalism exclusively based on languages and or ethnicity herald social justice in Nepal? Who can guarantee that future will be without any sort of ethno-lingual conflict? Are left politicians ready to take on this?

Languages and dialects reflect social indentify and Nepal is proud to have huge diversity in social identity in spite of historical setbacks to many of them. By realising the past mistakes, it is the responsibility of the Constitution to keep alive all ethno-linguistics intact. Again, mind it if politicians agree to set up a high level commission, that’s another political gimmick which won’t address the real need of the country. Say for example, wouldn’t it be nice step to set up a university of
Image by paramendra via Flickr
ethnic languages so that it would pave a scientific way of studying Nepal’s ethnography! They need to be explored, preserved, and sustained without any biasness. To sustain ethno-lingual diversity, we need have a vision for future citizens: all students graduating from high school in future ought to have working knowledge of at least three languages: first mother tongue, second national, and third international language so that future citizens would be globally competent as well as won’t miss their social identity locally. Let’s make the state and local governments responsible to draft such mandatory provisions.

Language does not limit to only medium of communication. It is a part of social life and a major system of socio-cultural function. Politicians’ missteps of short run use of language and ethnicity as polarizing figures may hamper country’s prosperity and sovereignty in long run. The way VP’s flip-flopping to defy the rule of land is simply inexcusable. It is being very difficult to digest further political irrationality. Enough is enough!

(Author’s email: srdevkota@gmail.com ).

Pages

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sukhdev Shah And Anti-Madhesi Prejudice

Sunday, September 06, 2009

A Reply To Surendra Devkota On Hindi